BeckerArt FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter May 12th, Armature Mannequin

Published: Tue, 05/12/20

Hello

Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #259, Armature Mannequin

Week 8 for anybody that is still counting. I definitely have been counting and this week was a monumental week when it came to deciding on what to do about my BeckerArt studio/classroom/gallery. It has been over a month and a half that I have not been able to open up the studio to do classes and paint parties and those classes and paint parties are what normally keeps the doors open and the bills paid. So at the beginning of this month I had to decide if I was going to stay open after this month of May. I have been selling my demos and I have other art projects that bring in funds but most of that goes to the other non-business bills like a mortgage and health insurance and those other bills that you get when you own your own home and have to eat. So the BeckerArt studio was going to be the first thing that had to be closed, but low and behold I started selling a bunch of the demo paintings and then many of my weekly students and artists that follow me either in workshops or with my newsletter stepped up and donated a treasure chest of funds to help me during these rough times. Many letters and emails were sent that said that they appreciated all I have done for them. It touched my heart and totally switched my mind from closing the studio to doing whatever I have to do to keep it open. Since last week the funds from the demo sales and the donations from many of you have made it possible to keep the doors open now for the next three months. Hopefully, I will be able to open the studio doors in three months and we will be back on track with classes and paint parties... my fingers are crossed and prayers said.

To all of you that made generous donations and those of you that have purchased demos I want to say with the most heartfelt gratitude, THANK YOU! Keeping the BeckerArt studio open means the world to me and I hope it will mean the world to you. When this virus is finally controlled and it is safe to have workshops again, I plan on having a free 3-day workshop for all of you that have given so much to me. I am so grateful. THANK YOU!

The next workshop that you can sign up for will be a watercolor workshop at Dillman's June 28-July 3, 2020
It is still a go so sign-up and if it does get canceled you can get your money back. INFO HERE

Coming soon I am still working on getting some live demonstrations ready for beginners and I also will have small kits available for those beginners that have always wanted to give it a go. Kits will include professional Holbein and Legion paper products. They will be sold here on my website. This will all be coming soon.

If you would like to see a recap of my Facebook Live demonstrations you can see them on my YouTube channel by clicking HERE

Thanks to those of you that use my LINK TO AMAZON.

NO CLASSES at the Civic Center in Libertyville until further notice.

NO CLASSES at the BeckerArt Gallery until further notice.

Armature Mannequin

Last week when I painted a figure sitting on the bed (painting below) I was asked by one of my students how they could get better at drawing people posing in all different positions without going to a life drawing class which they can't do at the moment while spending so much time at home. My answer was that they should use a

Armature Mannequin (pictured and sold on Amazon below) and put the Mannequin in all sorts of positions and then with just a pencil and sketchbook start studying the pose you set the Mannequin in and practice sketching the pose the Mannequin is in.

When sketching the Mannequin you are not actually making the drawing look exactly like the Mannequin with all the joints and weird plastic lines. You make it look like a human body, the Mannequin is just there to give you a look at what the large parts of the position would look like and you would fill in the details from looking at a real figure.

Doing these sketches by using a Mannequin to help you see a pose is a great way to put gestured people into your paintings. They could be background people or even the center of interest people. Sometimes in a photo, you can't quite figure out how something looks 3 dimensional when you are looking at a photo so that is a good time to take the Mannequin and position it like what is in the photo, then you can see what the figure looks like in 3D.

Play around with all sorts of goofy positions and then practice drawing them. This is a great way to learn how to draw a figure in action.

You can get a wood Mannequin like the one above with no muscles or facial features or nowadays they make them with faces and muscles.

David

WORKSHOPS and DEMOS of 2020

WORKSHOP Dillman's, Lac Du Flambeau, W/C, Wisconsin, June 29th to July 2nd INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Vermont Art Event, W/C& Acrylic, Burlington, Vermont, July 27th to July 31st CANCELED

WORKSHOP Thousand Island Art Center, W/C, Thousand Island, NY, August 4th to August 6th INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Goshen Painters Guild, W/C, Indiana, August 13th to August 15th INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Dillman's, Lac Du Flambeau, W/C, Wisconsin, Aug. 31st to Sept. 3rd INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Artisan Expo, W/C & Acrylics, Santa Fe, MN. Sept. 24th to Sept. 26th INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Sangamon Watercolor Society, W/C, Springfield, IL. Oct. 9th to Oct. 12th INFO HERE

Product of the Week
Armeture Manikins

Are you organizing and finding a ton of things to throw away, so throw things away in style. This is an auto open garbage can ... it doesn't get any better then this!
Buy it here

Saturday Morning Artists of the Week

What fun it has been to watch many of you that have been watching my Saturday morning demos, give them a try yourself. Everyone is doing an amazing job! The one I painted is on the left, below are many of the artists that also painted the scene and then sent me their results on Facebook or they posted them on my Facebook page.

Watch me painting this demo on Facebook Live HERE
Watch me painting this demo on YouTube HERE

My Saturday Demo

Martine Jones

Jane Colquhoun Mullins

Diane G. Simon

Ann Megna

Online Facebook Live demonstration paint-a-long
Saturday May 9th at 9:30am CST on Facebook Live

Photo above was taken from Pexels.com Photo by Wendy Wei and is what I will be teaching you to paint this coming Saturday May 9th at 9:30am CST on Facebook Live

Daily Paintings Available

Every day during this pandemic I plan on putting up a daily demo painting on my website that will be for sale HERE. A lot of art instructors and artist are struggling through these stay at home order times because many of our classes, workshops, paint parties, and demonstrations have been canceled, so I am starting to sell the demonstrations that I do in my classes at extremely low prices to help keep some funds coming in to help keep my BeckerArt classroom/studio/gallery open.

All the paintings are original works of art that are
10 x 14" in size and have been done as a demonstration in a classroom or as a live demonstration.

Thanks!

BeckerArt Brushes

Click Here to Purchase BeckerArt Brushes

Shop Amazon by clicking the logo below to help me fund this newsletter... Thank You!

If you are looking to help me fund my BeckerArt Studio/Classroom during this Pandemic may I suggest purchasing a daily painting and for those that just would like to donate funds you can click Donate button below.
For those wishing to send a donation do it to BeckerArt 3314 Pearl Street, McHenry, IL.60050

For any other info please email me at david@davidrbecker.com